Defence training: from high schools to military academies, opportunities for young talent

Training in Defence starts early. Girls and boys who have successfully completed the second year of classical and scientific high schools can continue their three-year studies at military high schools (Nunziatella in Naples, Teuliè in Milan, Morosini in Venice and Douhet in Florence). Once they have obtained their diploma, they can enrol in university courses or apply for military academies. Modena (Italian Army and Carabinieri Corps), Livorno (Navy), Pozzuoli (Air Force) and Bergamo (Guardia di Finanza) train officers. Finally, the NCO schools (Viterbo for the Army and Air Force, Taranto and La Maddalena for the Navy) and, at university level, the Casd. These are all solutions of tradition and excellence.

The call for applications for the 2026/2027 school year for Nunziatella was recently published. There are 80 places in the competition, broken down as follows: 48 scientific high school, 16 classical high school and 16 applied sciences (new from the 2026/2027 school year). As things stand, it is attended by 171 people, broken down as follows: the 238th course has 61 students (21 women), the 237th has 55 students (14 women), and the situation is similar for the 236th course. The open competition is reserved for 15-year-olds attending the second year of a classical, scientific or applied sciences high school. The competition involves a selective process of physical and general culture tests and, depending on the address, there will be specific questions divided as follows: classical (Greek and Latin), scientific (mathematics and physics), and applied sciences (computer science and physics). Then there is the 'Teulié': based in Milan. This military school integrates three high school courses (classical, scientific and digital) with a military and values preparation. Currently, the institute has 228 pupils, 130 boys and 98 girls. The pupils are distributed between the different courses: 52 attend the classical high school, 109 the traditional scientific high school and 67 the digital high school, the latter recently introduced and strongly oriented towards technological innovation and digital skills. Admission to the Teulié Military School is by means of a national open competition, announced every year by the Ministry of Defence, which concerns all military schools in which the candidate expresses a preference. To take part in the competition, you must meet the following requirements: Italian citizenship, date of birth between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2011 (extremes included), be enrolled in the 2nd year of a secondary school in the 2025-2026 school year, with the obligation to gain admission to the 3rd year. You must also have 'regular moral and civil conduct'; not having been expelled from state educational institutions; not having repeated the same class for two years. Psycho-physical and aptitude fitness is also required (ascertained during the competition tests). In addition, the selection process includes a preliminary test, health checks, aptitude tests, physical education tests and a general culture test.

The Teulié Military School has recently introduced the Digital High School, in order to ensure a greater focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects by encouraging the use of digital media in all fields of personal and working life. In particular, starting from the Liceo Scientifico Applied Sciences option, ad hoc teaching programmes have been developed for each teaching subject to provide students with disciplinary skills aimed at collecting and analysing data and programming and solving problems using digital tools. In addition, project work and company internships will be carried out at companies with strong technological connotations that are partners of the school.

Modena Academy: there are almost 800 students enrolled in the Modena Academy distributed between the 1st - 2nd - 3rd year, also including medical corps officers who attend the institute for 7 years and trainee officers in the prefixed detention and normal role officers recruited by direct appointment. The Academy during the two-year period is also responsible for the training of approximately 130 trainee officers of the Carabinieri Corps. The degree courses currently provided at the institute are: strategic sciences (organisational policy address, infrastructure address and communications address); engineering (mechanical, TLC/Elt., civil/environmental, IT); law; medicine and surgery; veterinary medicine and surgery; chemistry and pharmaceutical technology. From next year there will be two new addresses for the degree course in strategic sciences, namely philosophy and management. The call for applications for the military academy (regular courses) is published in December and the process runs from February to September of the following year (competition for the 208th course in place). While for AUFP (January - competition for the 15th course in place); for direct appointment (February - competition in place). Both in favour of personnel with a master's degree in engineering, medicine and law or similar.

Finally, the Italian Army Non-Commissioned Officers School in Viterbo: pThe school trains Army marshals, who at the end of their training period will take up the post of platoon commanders of the operational units of the armed forces. Each course consists of approximately 130/140 trainee marshals. There are currently 257 trainee marshals (206 men and 51 women). Sthey are admitted through an open competition (scheduled to be published in March 2026), which includes a multiple-choice cultural pre-selection test, physical tests, psycho-aptitude tests, a multiple-choice English test (held at the Army's National Selection Centre in Foligno) and a one-month practical internship held at the training institute. As for the requirements, Italian citizenship, age between 17 and 26 years, high school diploma, psycho-physical and aptitude suitability are required. Ithe training course lasts 3 years, at the end of which students obtain a three-year degree in "Political Science and International Relations - Curriculum in Organisational and Management Sciences" at the University of Tuscia in Viterbo (the course combines historical, economic, sociological, legal and linguistic disciplines, with technical-professional subjects such as topography, weapons, ethics, planning). DDddDDDduring the training period, students obtain various professional qualifications (Counter- Improvised Explosive Devices instructor, parachute jump qualification, chosen patroller qualification, International Humanitarian Law operator)